Six marathoners named to Team USATF for IAAF World Championships

INDIANAPOLIS -- The first six members of Team USATF have been named for the IAAF World Championships in London this August, USATF announced Thursday.

On the men’s side, Team USATF will be represented in the marathon by Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Arizona), Bobby Curtis (Louisville, Kentucky) and Augustus Maiyo (Fort Carson, Colorado). For the women, Serena Burla (St. Louis, Missouri),Amy Cragg (Leavenworth, Kansas) and Laura Thweatt (Durango, Colorado) will don the red, white and blue in London. Abdirahman and Cragg were both members of the 2012 Olympic Track & Field Team that competed in London, and Cragg finished ninth in her first Olympic marathon in Rio.

All six team members have previous IAAF championship event experience, with Burla the only competitor who has IAAF World Championships experience in the marathon under her belt, finishing 10th at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing. Abdirahman will participate in his fourth IAAF World Championships and Cragg will compete in her third, both having previously participated in the distance track events at the World Championships.

The remaining three athletes are participating in their first IAAF World Championships, but two have IAAF World Cross Country Championships experience. Curtis is a three-time IAAF World Cross Country Championships team member and Thweatt participated in the 2015 edition in Guiyang. Maiyo was the top U.S. finisher at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2012 in Kavarna, Bulgaria.The men’s and women’s marathons will both be held on Sunday, August 6. The men will toe the line at 10:55 a.m. GMT (5:55 a.m. ET) and the women will follow at 2:00 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. ET). The 26.2 mile route will start and finish at Tower Bridge in central London. Fans can view a video of the course route on the official website of the IAAF World Championships - London 2017.

With the backdrop of the start of the races provided by the historic Tower of London, the route will comprise four laps of a 10km course on closed roads, heading west along Victoria Embankment towards the Houses of Parliament, then back alongside the River Thames to St Paul’s Cathedral, and returning to the Tower of London.The rest of Team USATF competing in London will be selected at the 2017 USATF Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, California. Tickets are available now at sacsports.com/2017usatf.